Ahmad Jamal may be one of the last living titans of jazz's
so-called Golden-Era, who continues to redefine modern jazz. Nowhere is this
more evident than in "Fitnah" and "Papillon", two new
compositions that have just been recorded.
Critic Stanley Crouch cites
AHMAD JAMAL's impact on the fresh form in jazz as an outstanding
conceptionalist. Crouch consider's Mr. Jamal's distinctive style as having had an influence on the same level as "Jelly
Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Theolonius
Monk, Horace Silver and John Lewis, all thinkers whose wrestling with form and
content influenced the shape and texture of the music, and whose ensembles were
models of their music visions."
Critics have called "In Search of Momentum"
Jamal's best recording in years, and critic Stanley Crouch flat out declares
him the greatest living jazz pianist. "He's the king, as far as I'm
concerned," says Crouch, a newspaper columnist who has taught jazz studies
at Columbia and Juilliard and is
writing a biography of Charlie Parker. "I don't think anybody plays with
greater freedom than he does, and that includes Ornette Coleman.
Pianist
Ahmad Jamal's intricate use of space and rhythm has created many haunting
musical landscapes during his long career. Jamal greatly expanded the
possibilities of the piano trio, and his compositions influenced Miles Davis
and John Coltrane. In fact, Miles referred to Jamal as his favorite pianist
saying all his inspiration comes from Jamal, and instructed his piano players
to "play like Jamal."
Now approaching his ninth decade in music, Jamal
continues to perform and record actively. Jamal's work has also been sampled by
many different hip-hop artists, primarily by Kanye West, DJ Premier from
Gangstarr, and Jay-Z who sampled Jamal for his 1996 hit album, Reasonable Doubt
on the song "Feelin' It." Among his many honors, in 1994 Jamal was
named a Jazz Master by the United States'
National Endowment for the Arts, the nation's highest honor for jazz musicians.
Mr. Jamal made a live album for Argo Records entitled But
Not For Me. The resulting hit single and album, that also included Poinciana -- his rendition could
be considered his "signature". This album remained on the Ten
Best-selling charts for 108 weeks -- unprecedented then for a jazz album. This
financial success enabled Mr. Jamal to realize a dream, and he opened a
restaurant/club, The Alhambra, in Chicago.
Here the Trio was able to perform while limiting their touring schedule and Mr.
Jamal was able to do record production and community work.
In
1994, Mr. Jamal received the American Jazz Masters award from the National
Endowment for the Arts. The same year he was named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale
University, where he performed
commissioned works the Assai String Quartet. A CD is available of these works.
In 1970, Mr. Jamal performed the title tune by
Johnny Mandel for the soundtrack of the film Mash!; and in 1995, two tracks
from his hit album But Not For Me -- Music, Music, Music, and Poinciana -- were
featured in the Clint Eastwood film The Bridges of Madison County.
Since his 1958 album But Not For Me
first awakened the jazz world to his potential, pianist Ahmad Jamal has
influenced musicians from Miles Davis to Shirley Horn, Red Garland, Cedar Walton,
and Benny Green. He's probably best known outside jazz circles for his
soundtrack work, including a version of the M*A*S*H theme and two songs for The
Bridges Of Madison County (if that seems a little
underwhelming, remember that the director was Clint Eastwood, a man who knows
good jazz). He's also been sampled by rappers, including Nas ("The World
Is Yours") and De La Soul ("Stakes Is High"). More than half a
century into his career, Jamal is still putting out vibrant work, such as this
year's It's Magic.
Ahmad Jamal remains one of the few elder statesmen left in
the ever-shrinking pantheon of certified jazz legends. He has not stopped
touring and recording since he burst onto the scene in the early '50s, making
music that would later inspire the rising Miles Davis, who cited the pianist as
one of his greatest influences.
How fortunate we are then to be blessed with numerous
opportunities to hear this national treasure. Joining Jamal is his regular
rhythm section of James Cammack (bass) and Idris Muhammad (drums), as well as
percussionist Manolo Badrena, who has perhaps the largest influence on the
album's overall sound. This release doesn't give us the light and fanciful
Jamal stylings one might be familiar with from the essential Legendary Okeh and
Epic Recordings. Thanks to Badrena, It's Magic possesses aggressive, pulsating
Latin and African influences, most easily detected on the Jamal originals
"Swahililand," "Back To the
Island" and album highlight, "Arabesque."
If you're a Jamal beginner and
curious to check him out, it might be wiser to use the aforementioned '50s Okeh
and Epic set as your jumping-off point. After you understand why he's earned
his impeccable reputation, then give It's Magic a spin.
With a recording career stretching back to the early 1950s,
Ahmad Jamal proved to be a huge influence on artists such as Miles Davis and
Gil Evans. Having won numerous awards, and provided soundtrack material for
films such as THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, and MASH, Jamal is rightly lauded
throughout the business. This releases sees him
performing at the Baalbeck festival in 2003, in which he attempts to cover all
areas of his lengthy, and diverse, career. His mastery of the piano is a wonder
to behold, and an object lesson for all aspiring players to follow. Over the
space of 12 songs, Jamal manages to work an incredible array of ideas into his
music, providing an inspirational set which belies his age and lengthy tenure
in the business.
ALBUM REVIEW: "In search of"
A guy who Miles Davis called his
favorite piano player, Ahmad Jamal has always earned respect among other
musicians and critics for his consistent and innovative five-decade career.
He's never been one for self-promotion; he's always been too busy making music
to talk about it much. This trio date, featuring the greatest soul-jazz drummer
of all time -- Idris Muhammad -- and bassist James Cammack, is one of the most
fiery and inspired of Jamal's career. Kicking it off with "In Search
Of," Jamal's more percussive style is in evidence, kicking it with ninths
and even elevenths in shifting time signatures in a modern version of something
that unites McCoy Tyner's Coltrane period with the barrelhouse. Jamal's
trademark dissonances are juxtaposed against his whimsical lyric side in
"Should I," a tune he has played live for decades. His right-hand
legato phrasing and a near Monk-ish sense of harmony highlight his cascading
arpeggios and enormous chord voicings. And harmony is the central motif of this
album. Jamal's sense of melodic and harmonic development is under-recognized,
even as he has used both Ellington and Oscar Peterson for starting points and
built upon them via Monk's engagement with rhythm and "wrong" notes.
His chords are unique among jazz pianists in that they can be incorporated
wholesale as part of a rhythmic attack or in single- or double-note clusters to
swing the tune into its lyric. As a rhythm section, Muhammad and Cammack are
perfectly suited to Jamal because the seemingly teetering shifts in time and
pulse are never taken for granted and never merely followed, but executed
according to the pianist's penchant for making his compositions swing in a
songlike manner. A wonderful surprise here is the vocal of soul singer O.C.
Smith on the Jamal/Aziza Miller tune "Whispering." Smith is best
known as the singer of the soul hit "Little Green Apples," but his
talent is far more diverse than that. Here are traces of Big Joe Williams, Lou
Rawls, and Charles Brown caressed by the trio's shimmering accompaniment. His
performance is flawless. While Jamal's compositions are the album's high
points, there are no dead-dog tracks here at all: A reading of the Frank
Loesser nugget "I've Never Been in Love Before" reflects in the
trio's playing the vocal stylings of both Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald.
Also, Monty Alexander's "You Can See" is reinvented by the Jamal trio
and comes off as a splashy, singing number suited for the stage as much as a
jazz band. Jamal's ostinato and glissandi theatricality are dramatic but never
showy. He punches the melodic invention in his solos and keeps the rhythm
section moving, but never overshadows the body of the tune. This is a beautiful
offering by one of the true jazz masters of our time. At 72, Jamal is even more
of a pianistic enigma than he was as a young man. Highly
recommended. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Written by Kevin O'Day
CD Review: It’s magic
Ahmad Jamal's newest CD, It's Magic, is one of his best
since the classic record, But Not For Me, of 1958 on
which he gave us his most famous offering, "Poinciana".
This CD features some incredible musicians, and in keeping
with his usual practice, Mr. Jamal has a New Orleans
drummer in his rhythm section. Idris Muhammad holds down the groove with his
sensitivity, loose soul-jazz interpretation and creative textures on the drums.
On the bass, James Cammack is solid and provides a full sound upon which the
other instruments float like ships on a vast sea. These two musicians are the
usual trio with which Mr. Jamal plays, but on this CD, he adds a percussionist,
Manolo Badrena. Badrena is a master of timing and texture, adding a fresh sound
to the mix and choosing his constantly changing percussion instruments
intelligently.
I have seen Mr. Jamal's trio, with the line up of Idris
Muhammad and James Cammack, twice in the last few years; once in Peruggia,
Italy at a 300 year old
opera theater, and once at New York City's
famed Blue Note Jazz Club. Both of these performances gave me an insight into
the unlimited possibilities of the trio setting. Using a system of hand signals
and body language, Mr Jamal guides the trio through the different sections of
the tunes, that he arranges on the spot. It is a
fascinating thing to watch, and a beautiful thing to hear. This record brings
me back to those amazing nights of music, and with the addition of the
percussionist, gives me a new texture to enjoy in his musical interpretations.
Ahmad
Jamal is not just a living legend of jazz; he is one of the most inspired and
inspiring artists in music today. An important and influential figure in jazz
history (he was a key influence on Miles Davis in his formative years, and
countless others), he introduced the concepts of
space, silence and dramatic dynamics into jazz performance. He continues to
influence diverse generation of artists from Herbie Hancock, Hiromi to Matthew
Shipp.
Birdology/Dreyfus Jazz is proud to release Ahmad Jamal's
tenth US release on the French label, It's Magic, on June 10, 2008. It has been three years since
After Fajr, the critically acclaimed album The New York Times declared
"one of his best" (Ben Ratliff, May 30, 2005), and Ahmad Jamal has
been keeping very busy.
The 77-years old pianist, composer, arranger, producer,
manager, and officier (more on that later) has been touring the world, writing
new compositions, selling out concert halls, and discovering, producing, and
nurturing new talent. Mr. Jamal, who has always known how to get attention and
keep it, has been continuously improving his repertoire, never once resting on
his laurels.
The eagerly awaited new album, from one of the most revered
pianist on the international music scene, is all about remembering the past
while continuing to develop new territory. Dedicated to Jean-François Deiber,
his friend and producer who passed away just before After Fajr's release, It's
Magic features six originals, two of which have never been recorded, and three
standards with celluloid connection.
From the opening track, "Dynamo," Ahmad Jamal
signals a new direction almost immediately. Often cited for his brilliant and
expansive work in a trio format, Ahmad augments his sonic landscape with the
percolating beats of percussionist Manolo Badrena, backed by his long-time
rhythm section featuring drummer Idris Muhammad and bassist James Cammack. He
revisits "Swahililand," his hauntingly beautiful composition, a
concert favorite previously heard on After Fajr (also on 1974's Jamal Plays
Jamal and 1987's Crystal), with
exquisite styling and impressive command. Rarely heard "Back to the Island"
is dynamic, showcasing Ahmad's faultless technique.
Ahmad Jamal delivers an unforgettable interpretation in the
title track, "It's Magic," the Academy Award nominated song by Sammy
Cahn and Jule Styne from the film Romance on the High Seas. Ahmad shines,
stunningly backed by his trio, traversing the comic highs and lows in a romance
of mistaken identities, and elevates the breezy musical number to a lyrical
poem.
No stranger to hit songs (Ahmad
is one of the few jazz artists to score a Top 10 Pop hit with an instrumental -
"Poinciana"), Ahmad has also been sampled extensively by hip-hop
artists such as Jay-Z, Nas, and Common, among others. On "Wild is the
Wind/Sing," Ahmad sends up a rollicking take on the popular song
"Wild is the Wind" by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin from Wild is
the Wind and "Sing" written by Joe Raposo for Sesame Street (a hit
for The Carpenters); and offers an inventive and unusual interpretation of the
Academy Award winner for Best Original Song "The Way You Look Tonight"
by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields from the Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger's film
Swing Time.
Ahmad Jamal’s new release “It’s Magic” wins French
Grammy, and Jazzman’s Album of the year awards.
Last year, the French government has inducted Ahmad Jamal,
for his exceptional accomplishments in "American Classical Music,"
into its prestigious Order of the Arts and Letters, naming him Officier de
L'Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres (Officer, Order of
Arts and Letters). The Order of Arts and Letters,
established in 1957 to recognize distinguished artists and writers and others
who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France
and around the world, is one of four French ministerial orders and the highest
distinction for artistic or literary contributions. In being nominated to the
rank of Officer, Mr. Jamal joins some of the most important American artists
and writers including Ornette Coleman, Ralph Waldo Ellison, William Faulkner,
Ella Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Meier, Toni Morrison, Jackson Pollock,
Patti Smith, Susan Sontag, and Charles Wadsworth.
Mr. Ahmad Jamal, a National Endowment for the Arts American
Jazz Masters Fellowship recipient, is an exclusive Steinway piano artist.
